Prosody und Variation - Einzelansicht

Prosody and Variation: do you sound different than your Grandma? Are the politicians speaking all in the same manner? Does your grandma produce more pauses than you? The course is designed to give you the tools to find an answer for such questions. You will be introduced in the basic notions of variation and prosody. The seminar generally aims at discovering how variation can impact the different levels of prosody: the melody of language, its rhythm, loudness and the temporal dimension of speech. We start with an introduction, illustrated with many examples from Romance languages and English. Together, we will read and discuss seminal texts on the basic notions of prosody and variation and have a closer look at recent research results. One of the key concepts is the management of pauses and how they are used in different fields of communication. We will investigate different discourse environments such as political discourse and social factors such as age and gender.

Independent research will be encouraged and the class will let us practice academic writing in English and good practice in research.

Why in is the class taught English? English is nowadays essential to keep in touch with scientific progress in Romance linguistics and teaching. The class will welcome learners of all levels and the group will learn together how to progress. Furthermore, the use of English in class allows the group to consider the research on Romance languages.

Candea, M. (2000). Contribution à l’étude des pauses silencieuses et des phénomènes dits « d’hésitation » en français oral spontané (Thèse de doctorat). Université Paris III, Paris.
Di Cristo, A. (2013). La prosodie de la parole. Bruxelles: De Boeck.
Frota, S., & Prieto, P. (2015). Intonation in Romance. In Intonation in Romance. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gorka, E., & Prieto, P. (Éd.). (2013). Prosody and meaning. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.
Kabatek, J., & Pusch, C. (2011). The Romance languages. In K. Bernd & J. van der Auwera (Éd.), The Languages and Linguistics of Europe (p. 69–96). Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.
Krug, M. G., & Schlüter, J. (Éd.). (2013). Research Methods in Language Variation and Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Martin, P. (2016). Structure prosodiques des langues romanes. Actes de la conférence conjointe JEP-TALN-RECITAL 2016, volume 1: JEP.
Meyerhoff, M. (2019). Introducing Sociolinguistics (Third Edition). London: Routledge.